Wednesday, December 2nd, Lakes Entrance Volksmarch
Bob: One reason we had targeted Lakes Entrance for staying overnight was that the Canberra walking club had established a Volksmarch in the town that started from the Bellevue Hotel. Monika had downloaded the map and instructions for the walk from the Web and since the Heyfield Motel, where we were staying, was quite close to the Bellevue, we just started off hiking the trail as it passed by our motel. The route for the walk turned out to be a very irregular figure "8" in shape with one loop in the town of Lakes Entrance and another loop curling around the inlet and lagoon area to the West of town. Walking westward over to the highway bridge, we enjoyed the views of the inlet where the commercial fishing wharf and factory were located. Apparently you could actually show up on the dock beside that fish factory and purchase some of the fresh-caught fish literally right off the boat. That would probably be heaven for a gourmet cook like Karen, attractive to folks like me who just like fish, but pure tortue to folks who have a deep-seated antipathy toward fish such as Monika! |
Monika: I had found out that Lakes Entrance not only had a Volksmarch, but it was a self-service one with the start/finish point located in a nearby motel. The directions had been on the Internet and so we started out walking. Since a cool breeze was blowing we had donned long sleeved shirts, but in addition to that we put on sunscreen and wore hats as the sun was shining and the UV radiation in southern Australia is intense, in part due to the depletion of the ozone layer in the lower lattitudes near Antarctica. In any case, we were good and protected. Lakes Entrance is so named, because it sits at the ocean entrance to a series of lakes. We started walking along the main drag and then across a bridge crossing one arm of the inlet. |
Bob: Once across the bridge we took a path along the water's edge over to a jetty apparently used by local folks and amateur fishermen. The advantage of having this route layed out by the friendly Volksmarch people is that we would never have even guessed that a trail existed along that part of the waterfront if we had not have had those directions plus the nice map. We saw several small pleasure boats, some of which were out for a day's fishing, no doubt. |
Monika: We then walked along the first of the lakes to a jetty where we saw some people fishing. It was pretty along the lake with pleasure boats zooming past us. |
Bob: At the jetty we turned inland and followed a steep trail with steps cut into the hillside. The trail zigzagged straight up the face of the bluff to a seaside overlook. Along the way a couple of colorful Lorikeet parrots (I think!) perched in the tree right above me and started to eat while keeping a watchful eye on what I was doing, which, naturally enough, was bringing out my camera and taking pictures of them! |
Monika: The path now went uphill through some rather large trees to an overlook. Halfways up, we stopped to watch and take pictures of some very pretty parrots that had settled in the tree next to us. Australia is a noisy country. Yesterday we were overwhelmed by all the different birds in the rainforest and today we were assaulted by the raucaus cowing of the crows, the loud screeching of the magpies, and the cawing of the parrots. Sometimes I wondered wether I was hearing children crying, but it always turned to be just odd birds making even odder sounds. |
Bob: We were fortunate to arrive at the first lookout point just before a busload of young school children, who swarmed up into the lookout just as we were taking our leave. They were clearly on a field trip and quite excited, chattering away and rushing about wherever possible. Our walking route continued uphill to a second lookout point at the highest point on the bluff. A lighthouse, or more accurately a light tower, was also located there. According to a nearby sign, it had a beam visible for 27 kilometers out to sea. Unfortunately, the tower itself was closed off so we could not climb it for an even better view, more's the pity. Still, the second lookout point gave us nice views of the narrow inlet where the ocean flows into the complex of inshore lakes that run for many miles from Lakes Entrance westward. |
Monika: At every overlook we saw more of the lakes and the entrance to them. At one point near the road a complete lookout platform had been set up. Just as we were finished there, a bus dropped of a class of schoolchildren with their chaperones. Of course, they were in school uniform. But what struck me most was that most of the children were actually waring the hats that were a part of the uniform, and these were 8 to 10 year olds! Honestly, how many 8 year olds in America do you know that will wear a hat? But in Australia, due to the high UV sunlight and danger of skin cancer, a cap is very much part of the normal attire for schoolchildren as Lyn had cheerfully explained to us back in Sydney. I even saw boys at recess playing soccer, still wearing their hats, so the habit must be very well ingrained. In any case, I enjoyed the mob of kids climbing up on the overlook platform to take a gander at the scenery. We forged on to the ultimate lookout that actually looked out over the entrance to the ocean. It was on a hill with a beacon (visibility 27 km) and really gave you a great view. |
Bob: From the light tower we worked our way along the brow of the bluff past several houses with what I would call a "million dollar view" out over the ocean, and finally came to a zig-zag stairway that led us right back down to the highway bridge. There was no sign, so once again if we had not had the Volksmarch directions and the map, we would surely have missed that stairway. Crossing the bridge we completed the upper part of the figure "8" and then turned left and followed the shore along the North Arm of the inlet until its end. I was amused to see a flock of pelicans waiting quite hopefully at the public fish-cleaning tables for some scraps or leftovers to eat. Clearly a lot of folks rent small motorboats to use on the inlet because I saw three distinct fleets of small boats for rent. The blue-trimmed fleet, red-trimmed fleet, and yellow-trimmed fleet were otherwise identical but rented off of three different small docks. We also passed a pair of graceful and very hopeful black swans, but we had nothing to give them as we travel pretty light on these walks. |
Monika: After this we walked along the cliff. Clearly a prime location for houses. There were mainly modern houses with large windows facing the gorgeous view. A few small cape code type houses also still clung to the side of the bluff, but you knew that their days were numbered. We finally climbed down the hill, back to the bridge and along the north arm of the inlet. Here the water was calm, just made for water birds and small boats. The penguins congregated right by a fish cleaning table hoping for easy food. The black swans were walking along the beach hoping for a handout from friendly walkers. And in the water several entrepreneurs had boats for hire. There were blue boats, red boats, and yellow boats alll waiting for the season to start. |
Bob: At the end of the North Arm we curled northward past a lawn bowling place. Since I had never watched that and some folks were playing, I stopped to watch for a while and chat with another spectator about how the game was scored (points for the balls closest to the yellow marker ball). George Washington had a bowling green in front of his Mount Vernon mansion, of course (we live near there), but nowadays lawn bowling seems to have completely dropped out of the American sports scene as far as I can tell. Turning back southward we cut over to the main commercial street of Lakes Entrance that bordered the water and then turned westward to walk back toward our motel. The set of small stores and boutiques along the commercial strip were in some ways typical of any beach resort town, but Lakes Entrance had added things like carved wooden sculptures on the inlet side of the boulevard that dressed it up a bit. |
Monika: We finally came to the end of the north arm and walked around a bowling club, lawn bowling that is. When George Washington had a bowling green in front of his house, this was probably what his guests were doing, lawn bowling. We watched in amazement. One Gentleman who was leaving was kind enough to explain the rules and after that it was even more fun to watch. I also enjoyed the sign that said something like: "If you drop your bowling ball, don't be surprised to get a letter from the management suggesting coaching in the proper ways of rolling the ball. We want to preserve our greens." How delightfully understated. On our way back through town, we stopped at the local Safeway (just like Woolworth in New South Wales). Since we had an apartment with cooking facilities I thought a hot Mittagessen [American: lunch] would be great. We settled on some Chicken-Kebobs that we could put into the oven and coleslaw. That worked out really well, and we had a great meal. |
Bob: We returned to the Heyfield and put up our legs to rest during the hotter part of the late afternoon, tag-teaming with the computer to do email to keep up with our friends and family and upload pictures to facebook to let the world know where we were and what we were up to. But when the sun was getting ready to set about 8:00 p.m., we had recovered enough energy to walk back to the Bellevue. Once the proprietor found the walk box, we registered for the Volksmarch and stamped our books. Continuing a couple blocks down the street against a surprisingly stiff and chilly breeze, we came to a pedestrian bridge that crossed over the inlet to the narrow barrier island or peninsula that separates the inlet from the ocean. Crossing the narrow isthmus to the beach on the ocean side, we found the waves just roaring in. Wow, what a surf! So we had fun taking some pictures of the setting sun along the beach until the sun finally sank below the horizon and the show was over. After that we walked briskly back to our room for the night, partly so that we would get back before it got too dark and partly because with the sun down it really was surprisingly chilly. |
Monika: We decided to stay in during the hot part of the day. We had free internet and that was enough to entertain both of us. Bob also decided to take a nap, while I read. Finally, around 6PM Bob woke up and we had a couple of sandwiches and then decided to walk out onto the beach to get some sunset pictures. First we stopped at the Bellevue Motel to stamp our books. We were lucky, the guy at the reception room had cleaned up the storage room and found the Volksmarch box. So he knew what we were talking about. When we looked at the log, we noticed the problem, we were only the third walker in 2009. Really folks, if you ever get to Lakes Entrance, do take the Volksmarch, it is really quite a nice walk! We walked the length of the Esplanade past all the fishing boats to a little footbridge across the inlet to the ocean and the 90-mile beach. Along the way, we saw several rather interesting, large woodcarvings. By the time we reached the bridge, the sun was getting low. So we hurried across the bridge and the dunes to the beach. The surf was up and I enjoyed walking along the waterfront, listening to the waves coming crashing in, and trying to take pictures of the sunset. But we did not go too far, since indeed, it was getting darker and we were tired. We walked back across the bridge, now taking pictures of the sunset over the inlet and coming through the fishing boats. Returning to our nice little apartment we settled in for the night. Since we had free internet, we uploaded pictures of Australia and New Zealand to facebook, answered all our e-mail and felt very virtuous. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Cruise around New Zealand | Map of Drive through Victoria | Epilog |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||